"Oh I don't know. Maybe a Merlin or an Interstar Majestic."

Kiper asked innocently: "How do you plan to pay for it?"

Namour laughed and shook his head.

"Now you are probing too deeply!"

Shugart turned to the other Bold Lions.

"Perhaps we should take Namour into our syndicate! It might expedite things for all of us!"

Aries looked toward Namour.

"What do you say to that?"

Namour pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"My favorite philosopher declares: "Not only does he travel fastest who travels alone, he travels twice as fast as two people, three times as fast as three people and four times as fast as four."" "Ha-hah!" cried Uther Offaw.

"And what is the name of this misanthropic philosopher?"

"He is Ronsel de Roust, of The Galcidine. Still, I'm willing to listen to anything, if it's to my advantage, and if it's definite! I can't waste tune on a lot of wild talk."

"Naturally not," said Shugart.

"We're all in earnest, and we don't propose to be thwarted!"

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Well we have several ideas, such as a big new tourist resort on Sunrise Strand. We're short of capital, but if you guaranteed cheap labor to the project, we might get a bank loan for the balance. We envision everything first-class, with a gambling casino, a cosmopolitan restaurant, and naturally a corps of Yip girls to jolly up the patrons."

Cloyd asked anxiously: "What do you think? Could it be arranged?"

"You'd never get past the Conservator."

Jardine pounded the table.

"We're suffering financial problems and this is a great solution! He's got to see it our way!"

Namour sipped his wine.

"What if he won't? Do you plan to bring pressure to bear? If so: how?"

"Well, persuasion of some sort. After all, what does it matter to the Naturalists?"

Cloyd demanded: "How could they stop us if we were resolute?

I hardly think they'd use force."

"Hmm." Namour mused a moment.

"They're not particularly numerous, and half of them are social idealists called LPFers."

Uther Offaw, somewhat the worse for wine, said: "Still, they claim to own the planet, and they've got the Charter to prove it."

"That's what we're told, at any rate," said Namour.

Once again Shugart pounded the table.

"Devil take them, LPFers, black pants and all! The Bold Lions insist on justice!"

Kiper, flushed in the face, cried out: "Three great growls for Shugart and his manifesto of justice!"

Kirdy said: "Quiet, Kiper! You are far too obstreperous.

Namour, you were about to speak?"

Kiper refused to restrain his advocacy.

"I'm a Bold Lion, brave and free! I want money so bad I can taste it!"

"Please, Kiper! Namour is experienced in these matters! Let him speak!"

"With pleasure! Speak, Namour, to your heart's content!"

"Only this," said Namour.

"Perhaps you are making the wrong sort of plans. Cadwal is due for change: everyone knows this. Those who will profit are those who ride the changes and control them, not the folk who lament for the old days."

Kirdy's big features twisted into ropes of perplexity.

"I

don't quite follow you. Surely--" Namour made an easy gesture.

"I offer no program! I merely point out that it's better to win through decisive action, even force, than lose everything through hand-wringing and confusion."

Aries became excited.

"How else has the Reach been expanded across the galaxy? By games ofpattycake and cat's cradle?

Not on your life!"

Namour said: "One thing is sure. Changes are on their way.

We can't keep the Yips away from the Marmion Low Plain forever, and it may go farther than that when the time comes. And in the end, some will survive and others will not. I hope to survive."

"The Bold Lions as well!" cried Cloyd.